With GUMLAB we explore the relationship between privacy, data trading and digital freedom. The work lets audiences physically experience how casually we hand over personal data and how seemingly small choices are turned into value. Visitors are first enticed to take part: at a cheerful, Willy Wonka–like intake desk they exchange a short form with personal details for a “free” gumball. A clinical protocol then follows: the participant receives the gumball together with a numbered glass slide (linked to the form), chews the gum quietly in the chewing room, and then hands the chewed gum (with saliva, and thus DNA) back to us. On site we process this “data” into pixels for the growing DNA artwork STICKY DATA.
What begins as an innocent gesture, a gumball in exchange for your data, gradually shifts into something larger. The mix of seduction, precision and a clinical atmosphere creates confusion: are you medical staff, researchers or artists? Last summer, during the Airborne March, we presented GUMLAB for the first time. Responses ranged from immediate participation to critical questions “what happens to my DNA?” and occasional refusal. That moment when ‘innocent’ bartering tips into unease triggers exactly the intended reflection: what am I actually giving away?
The chewing-gum artwork STICKY DATA is conceived as a triptych; at this moment one of the three panels is complete. For the other two we continue to collect new “material” together with the audience. Each presentation contributes directly to the completion of the work.2025, Oosterbeek, NL
